Issue 105
December 2004
Contents
Illuminations
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Modern memory leaps too fast from the steam age to the information age. In between, at the end of the 19th century, was a spectacular epoch of light and power inventions which shaped the modern world. And the story of electric light illustrates the close entanglement of science, technology and commerce
The just war tradition
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
State sovereignty is fragmenting but world government is still far off. Neither the UN charter, designed to protect member states from aggression, nor the new US doctrine of preventative war can address the challenges of a globalising world. The "just war" tradition provides a sounder moral base
Academy schools at the creation
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
When an evangelical Christian offered to start up an "academy" to replace a Doncaster comprehensive, teachers and parents revolted. But the government's academy revolution - state-funded schools run by private sponsors - is here to stay
Paul Wolfowitz
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
The US deputy secretary of defence, and a leading force in American neoconservatism, challenges Europe to back the spread of democracy and explains why America is not an empire
The cult of Atatürk
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
As Turkey drifts away from its "Kemalist" roots, there are just two things on which almost all Turks can agree: the necessity of EU membership and the still unifying cult of Atatürk
Goodbye to all that
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Europe has a more balanced debate than America about the extent and causes of today's antisemitism. But in both places we must defend a firewall between criticism of Israeli governments and antisemitism
Broken dreams
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Is there anything in the world more forlorn than a victory party on a losing night?
Democrat lessons
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Democrats must learn to play the religion game — and not get hung up on Barack Obama
Manifesto for optimists
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Multilateralists are convinced that second-term Bush will embrace them
Not so canny
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
The Scots bid for power has got them a dull parliament and a resentful England
City people
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Jan Gehl knows how to make cities work for pedestrians. London is his latest target
The return of story
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
In the 20th century, as the practice of the novel tore away from storytelling, narrative went to the movies. But that rip in literature is now being mended
Sympathy for the devil
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
By daring to portray Hitler intimately on film, "Der Untergang" reveals the power of fiction to upset moral judgement. Germany still can't take it
The new mysteries of class
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Britain's class structure has become harder to describe. Ferdinand Mount does his best but leaves out the end of empire and the public service elite
Wellcome to sci-art
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
The Wellcome Trust wants more art with its science. Is this a third way for the two cultures debate? Only if it produces masterpieces
Television forecast
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
DVD is giving television back to the viewer, creating archives of the classics and wrongfooting broadcasters
Widescreen
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Does it matter if a movie set in America is filmed in Romania? Does it matter if the location has been generated by computer? The answer is no, and yes
Sacred heart
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
When Naomi first touched him, he was already rigid and blue
Out of mind
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Throughout the stages of my life it is the occasional decorative detail I remember, not the "I" of subjective experience. In fact, I'm not unlike my amnesiac patient
Washington watch
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
The Democrats have a scapegoat for their election failure. But they may not need one — there's a liberal infiltrator inside the White House. Her name's Bush
France profonde
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
A proposal that English be made compulsory in French schools is provoking outrage. Any other language would be preferable — Spanish, German, Arabic…
Notes from underground
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
It is a stupid and often unsuccessful way to kill yourself, but there is still about one "one-under" every week on the London underground
Brussels diary
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
The commission president makes the mistake of following my advice. And the ups and downs of business in a Strasbourg brothel
My top ten fears
18th December 2004 — Issue 105
Ziauddin Sardar, 53, is the author of Desperately Seeking Paradise (Granta)